Straw-separator for thrashing-machines



(No Model.-)

B, H. NICHOLSON.

STRAW SEPARATOR FOR THRASHING MACHINES.

No. 452,948. Patented May 26, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELLIS II. NICHOLSON, OF SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA.

STRAW-SEPARATOR FOR TH RASHING-MACHIN ES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 452,948, dated May 26,1891. Application filed August 4, 1890. Serial No. 360,996. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLIS II. NICHOLSON, a citizen of the United States,residing in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara county, State of California, haveinvented certain new and useful ImprovementsinStraw-Separatorsfor-Thrashing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce an improved means of separatingand throwing out the straw from the grain, and particularly of removingthe short and broken straw before it reaches the grain sieves or shoe 0fthe thrasher; and the same consists in a novel construction andcombination of parts, as hereinafter described, and pointed out in theclaims, forming an improved mechanism that may be applied between thedelivering end of the grain-diaper and the separating-shoe, orimmediately behind the thrashing-cylin der to take the grain and strawdirectly from that part of a thrashing-machine.

The accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification,illustrate the manner in which I construct and apply my improvement atthe delivery end of the grain-draper, and it shows in Figure 1 avertical section taken in a longitudinal direction through parts constituting the separating mechanism and also the discharge end of thegrain-diaper and the separator-shoe, in Fig. 2 the straw-separator intop view without the grain-diaper, and in Fig. 3 a side view, on alarger scale, of one of the notched bars that carry the long straw, therear end portion of the bar being shown.

A represents the sides of the thrashing-machine, and B thedischargingend of the graindraper.

O C are long bars or rods having sawtooth notches c in the top faces,the inclined sides of which stand toward the rear or in the direction oftravel of the straw. The ends of the bars curve downwardly and aresupported by the horizontal cross-pieces d d, the front ends beingsecured to their support (I, but the rear ends being unattached, so thatthe bars may be raised or lowered at the rear to change the degree ofinclination, if desired. lhe rear ends are set higher than the frontends, in order to give the supporting-surface formed of these bars anupward inclination in the direction of travel, and provision is made forsetting the bars separately by fixing beneath each bar a screw-threadedrod D, working through a stationary cross-bar D and furnished withsetting-nuts, as shown in. Fig. 1. These afford adjustment of any one orall of the notched bars for purposes of alignment, and in the case ofvery long bars this means of adjustment can be placed at several pointsin the length of the bar to prevent sagging and preserve an evensurface.

E E are a number of picker-shaf ts furnished with radial arms E andsupported in bearings in the sides of the machine-casing for rotation inhorizontal position one-behind the other, one shaft being set atsuitable distance from the other to bring its arms within the circledescribed by the ends of the arms on the next shaft adjacent to it. Eachshaft is set somewhat above the level of the shaft next in front, inorder to bring the arms of the whole set of shafts to project in theirrevolutions at uniform distances above the strawsupporting surfaceformed of the notched bars. There are two sets of arms or fingers E oneach shaft, one diametrically opposite to the other, and continuousrotation of the whole number of shafts is produced from a principaldriver by means of asprocket-wheel F on the end of each shaft and thedrivechain F running above and beneath all the sprocket wheels from thedriving wheel. They are connected in this manner to run positively andwithout changing the relative positions of their fingers, which are soset and timed that those on one shaft alternating with those on the nextadjacent shaft shall stand horizontally when the others of the nextshaft project through the surface of notched bars and stand aboutperpendicularly. These picker-shafts are best made of gas-pipe orsimilar light tubing drilled for the fingers, which are driven throughfrom one side to the other and turned up at the ends.

hen in operation, the fingers of one shaft act under and against thestraw to take it from the fingers of the shaft next below and throw itwithin the paths of the fingers next above, and by this means the wholeseries running continuously at regular and rapid progression of thestraw is kept up by the joint operation of all the shafts.

The inclined bars are notched on the top to prevent backward movement ofthe straw, and are set at suitable distances apart to let the grain andshort straw fall through to the endless carrier G. The office of thispart G is to catch and convey the grain and short straw to a separatingdevice beneath, and it is formed'of a slatted endless apron or What iscommonly known as a grain-drag, consisting of spaced slats fixed tocarrying-belts and arranged over driving pulleys to run closely againstthe top face of a board or solid bottom GX from end to end continuouslyin one direction. The discharging end of this carrier is placed justabove aninclined apron H, that delivers the grain to the separatorshoeS, so that the matter falling from the end of the carrier G is deliveredby the fixed apron II to the separatingsieve. Before reaching the sieve,however, the shorter straw that has been carried along with the grain isremoved by a short endless carrier I, which is set with onecarrying-roller K in close relation to the lower end of the fixedincline and the higher discharging end at sufficient distance beyond tothrow the straw out of the machine.

The carrier I is an endless apron of slats armed with pins or shortteeth 1) t, projecting from'their upper faces, which run closely to thebottom edge of the incline to catch the straw, while the grain dropsthrough to the sieve, and it is driven by belt and pulleys, as

shown in Figs. 1 and 2, from the shaft above,

whereby the elevation of each bar can be controlled with a series ofrevoluble pickershat ts having arms projecting up between the bars 0, asset forth.

2. The combination of the notched inclined bars supported at one end andfree at the other, an adj usting-screw for each bar by which itselevation is controlled, and a series of uniformly-rotated picker-shaftsarranged beneath the bars and having arms which project between them,with the endless traveling carrier arranged beneath the bars and shafts,and grain-receiving and straw-separating devices arranged at thedischarge end of the carrier, as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand andseal.

ELLIS H. NICHOLSON. [L. s.]

Witnesses:

PHILIP STEWART, E. T. KETCHAM.

